Pages

Saturday, 20 April 2013

Shehla Pucha Shwa

I came across the above clip some time back and if one
knows Urdu and Pashto then listening to it invokes instant laughter, as I have carried out this experiment on many of my friends. Yet, the
post laughter response to this has often been a “tsk tsk” at the status of
education in Pakistan. There have also been those who were saddened by the
capacity of this boy to learn.

While there is no doubt that the status of Pakistan's
education is appalling and is a reflection of the amount of budget we have set for
it every year. Can we also blame this child and assume that he is also
deficient when it comes to his learning abilities?

I think he is a very brilliant child, for, not only has he
learned to read an alien language, but while reading he is also creative enough to
weave a story around the few words that sound similar to his language, which is Pashto. When he hears the word Kaash, which in Urdu means, “To wish," he
recognizes it as Kaash, which in Pashto refers to “Pistol Holster.” He further
goes on to create a story about Shehla’s father and his pistol. He reads the
Urdu word Chupkay, which means “Silently,” and he mistakes it for Chuka -- a
Pashto word meaning “Stick” -- and weaves a story around that.

The result is hilarious in the first instant, but is also
very tragic when one considers the struggles that this child is up against.
Consider the fact that this weakness, in comprehension, is not only about Urdu but he also has to learn science, as well as mathematics, with this same level
of comprehension in Urdu.

Nevertheless, our education system in Pakistan is definitely under-funded,
but in this instance it is more about policy than budget. This is because, as a
policy decision, we have failed to make use of the massive educational
advantage that this child has, which is his mother tongue: Pashto. He clearly
achieves a higher level of understanding when he thinks in Pashto. Thus, a lack
of funding would not be the only thing to blame if this particular advantage is
not utilized.

Often, we hear smug urbanites trash any notion of teaching
in local languages because of the saying, “Duniya kahan ja rahi hai aur hum
kahan." (Rough translation: Our priorities are so misplaced when compared
with the rest of the world.) This saying thus indicates that local languages
are not important, or even mandatory for that matter, because we need to give
priority to languages that are considered more "important," i.e.
English. Hence, the argument is that exposure to English is mandatory for the
young so that they can be at ease with textbooks at an elevated level.

While it is not impossible to teach a child how to write and
read in English, the name and reputation of the school is more than often
placed at the utmost importance -- such prominent schools include Beaconhouse
and Karachi Grammar School. Yet, what we see in this video is a product of our
government school system from rural areas. We are talking about underpaid and
under qualified teachers and schools without roofs. And, no, these schools
cannot be turned into "Beaconhouses" with simply a wave of the magic
wand.

In a report titled Language and Education: The Missing Link,
authors Pinnock & Vijayakumar (2009) highlight that drop out rates are much
higher in linguistically diverse societies that use a single national or
international language for schooling. According to the report, 72% of the
World’s out-of-school children were from countries that they term to be the
“most linguistically fractionalized."

Pakistan, albeit consisting of 75 languages, has an
estimated 92% of its population devoid of educational curriculum in mother languages.
Comparatively India, with 401 languages, has only 25% of its population without
educational curriculum in their mother languages.

There is, of course, merit with the concern that mastery in
the English language is necessary in order to understand textbooks at a higher
level of education. But, as Pinnock and Vijayakumar (2009) point out:

“Evidence
demonstrates, however, that studying in an English-only or
national-language-only curriculum is not the best way to develop proficiency in
that language. In fact, children have higher achievement levels in both their
mother tongues and in national and international languages when they study in
their mother tongues."

Thus, the idea is to introduce English later in the child’s
schooling years, but initiate his initial learning in his own language --
his/her mother tongue.

This infographicshows the educational attainment of 17-22
year old Pakistanis, illustrating the clear differences among various
linguistic groups. Urdu appears to be the least poor and seems to validate the
conclusion of Pinnock & Vijayakumar. But one has to be careful in
interpreting these results as native Urdu speakers in Pakistan reside in more
developed and urban settings; therefore, a higher enrolment rate may be a result
of better school facilities, and not necessarily because of education in the
mother language.

Further, a report commissioned by the British Council in
2012 titled Language in Education in Pakistan had some quite interesting
observations. One of its findings was that “there is evidence that many people
are strongly attached to their languages and wish to educate their children
through those languages.”

Hence, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)
is a good source to map this particular wish as it actually asks parents,
living in rural Pakistan, about what language they would prefer as a medium of
instruction. This infographic depicts the provincial demands from parents
regarding English, Urdu, and the mother language (which ASER calls “Home
Language”).

However, there is more divergence within provinces at the
district level, as shown in the map below.

While Sindh is overwhelmingly in favour of local languages,
Punjab is its exact opposite. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have more
mixed preferences. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the northern Pashtun districts have a
stronger preference when compared with the southern Pashtun districts.
Furthermore, the predominantly Hindko-speaking districts of Hazara have a lower
preference for Hindko to be used as a medium of instruction. The situation in
Balochistan is more complicated and, compared to the other provinces, it has the highest
variance among districts.

Nevertheless, an appreciable move by the previous government of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa was to make a switch to local languages as a medium of instruction.
However, problems were foreseen; for instance, teachers who had inadequate skills
to teach Pashto and Hindko. Apart from that, some less prominent languages were also
left out.

It goes without saying that such a switch to local languages would not be a
smooth one. Yet, this government dealt with improving a system that was designed
to not take advantage of the child’s existing language skills.